Data Bites #19: Getting things done with data in government

Better use of data is key to more effective government. Across government, teams are doing fascinating work with data. But those projects don’t get the attention they deserve. At this month's event, the 19th in our series, the speakers presented their data projects in an exciting, quickfire format. Each set of speakers had eight minutes, followed by eight minutes of questions from the audience. This month's speakers were: Mark Green, Senior Lecturer in Health Geography at the University of Liverpool, on Local Data Spaces: helping local authorities tackle the Covid-19 pandemic Nick Bailey, Director of the Urban Big Data Centre, on the Urban Big Data Centre’s research Michaela Benzeval, Director of Understanding Society at the University of Essex, and Gemma Schwendel, Senior Analyst at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, on producing and using real time data about the impact of the pandemic on household income, and on the lives of low-income families Catherine Bromley, Deputy Director of Data Strategy and Infrastructure at the ESRC, on UK social science data infrastructure – what’s worked during the pandemic, what’s been a challenge, and lessons for the future. The event was chaired by Gavin Freeguard, associate at the Institute for Government. We took questions virtually during the event.